Introduction
Welcome to St. Matthew Lutheran Church! What follows is a packet of information designed for those who would like more information about the Christian faith and about our church.The first document, What Makes Lutheranism Different?,is a brief description of how Lutheranism differs from other types of Christian churches; it might be helpful for some especially because there are a limited number of Lutheran churches in this part of the country. Next follows The Vision of St. Matthew, which seeks to express what is unique about our particular congregation and how we seek to use our unique gifts to further God's kingdom in this world. Next follows Opportunities at St. Matthew, which gives detailed information about the congregation and its various programs.The packet also includes a devotional written by Pastor Dukeman, Exploring the Christian Faith with the Gospel of Matthew. Finally, there is an information form that you may fill out if you are interested in joining our church family here at St. Matthew.
What Makes Lutheranism Different?
What is Lutheranism all about? While there are many different types of Lutherans and Lutheran churches, we can simplify matters and focus on what's central to Lutheranism.
To help us do this we should compare Lutheranism with other general views of what Christianity is all about. Some Christians define God in such a way that we human beings seem insignificant or undignified. For example, some emphasize that God before the world was ever created decided that in the course of time he would take certain individuals to himself and reject others. God is certainly in control here, but he doesn't seem very loving. Some other Christians emphasize God's power and control in a different way. These say that because God is so big and powerful, human beings have to do everything they can in order to be with him. They have to both trust in him (have faith) and they have to be good enough people in order to avoid God’s wrath. Again it's not clear here that God is loving since it seems too hard for human beings to have a relationship with him.
Other Christians tend to take the opposite approach, often in reaction to positions like just described. Many of these Christians emphasize that human beings must "make a decision for Christ." They emphasize individual integrity, independence, and accountability. Nevertheless there can be a similar tendency to portray God as not fully loving here. If a person's certainty of salvation is dependent upon making a definite decision, this can leave a Christian on shaky ground. We human beings are often fickle creatures, sinful and uncertain about so much in our decision making. If we chiefly look within ourselves to see if God is loving, we are bound to often see not God but rather our own limitations.
Lutheranism tries or at least should try to capture strengths from both of these general types of thinking while leaving behind what is less helpful.In this sense Lutheranism occupies a sort of middle ground between more hierarchical church bodies (e.g. Roman Catholicism) and churches that put little emphasis on things like tradition, the sacraments, etc. For Lutherans, God certainly takes the initiative in our Christian lives, but he typically does this through the work of other Christians and leaves us ample room to freely serve him. God took initiative in creating the world, we didn't create it, and yet God always wanted his human creatures to live in genuine loving fellowship with him. And then when Adam and Eve fell into sin, and the human race with them, Jesus took the initiative and died for the sin of the world. Jesus bore our sin at the cross; we couldn't pay for our sins and we still can't. And yet Jesus did these things so that our fellowship with him and God the Father might be truly restored. Similarly, the Holy Spirit has taken the initiative in our lives. He worked in various ways to impart God's love to us at the beginning of our walk with God. This is focused in Holy Baptism where he applied the benefits of Christ's cross to us and brought us into God's family. However, after God in Baptism brought us into his family, he also left ample room for our own initiative, for our trust in him and our loving others and bringing them the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This then is a very brief description of what makes Lutheranism different. In pointing out differences between Lutherans and other Christians, it isn't to be judgmental. We differ from each other as fellow Christians. Even as believers we remain very sinful creatures (but God is an even better forgiver!) Lutherans often have large differences from one another both in doctrine and in life, and we sin much towards each other over these things. We also sin much towards Christians and other people. Nevertheless, we try to confess things that we believe will be helpful to other Christians and other people. We're not trying to be judgmental but rather helpful. And we are also eager to receive help from others in areas of doctrine and life where they have gifts and might be able to help us!
The Vision of St. Matthew
I. Mission (What are we doing?)
•The mission statement seeks to identify what we're the best at. It looks at the intersection of the gifts of the various people in the congregation, the pastor’s gifts, and the needs in the community. Our mission statement is the following:
–"Enlightening people to make them blessed."
II. Values (Why are we doing it?)
•Values refer to what we find important as we consider our mission. Some of our values are the following:
–grounded in worship
– graced mutual support
– passionate discovery
– loving motivation
–reaching neighbors
–equipping new disciples.
III. Strategy or Map (How are we doing it?)
•The Map looks especially at the programs that we offer as a church body whereby we might accomplish our mission (some of our programs would be worship, Bible Class, Sunday School, choir, LWML, mission group, quilting group, etc.).
•Our church at the present time is focusing especially on:
–Devotional Resources to accompany other programs.
–Music programs.
–Children programs.
•See the picture on the next page for a visual depiction of our map.
IV. Measures (When are we successful?)
•Unlike the map which is a guide for what we want our programs to accomplish, the measures focus on what we want to see happen in individual people both within and influenced by our congregation.
•Some of our measures are the following:
–Grow
–Relate
–Listen
–Offer
– Invite
"Enlightening people to make them blessed."
Opportunities at St. Matthew.
Welcome to St. Matthew Lutheran Church. What follows is meant to help familiarize you with some of the various programs offered by St. Matthew that you might want to utilize or contribute to.
Worship and Bible Study. As you probably already know, St. Matthew has Sunday services with communion at 10:45 each Sunday with a Bible Study preceding it at 9:30 in the Education Building and a fellowship time with coffee and refreshments following the service in the Education Building. We also offer midweek services during Advent and Lent on Wednesdays at 7 PM with a light supper preceding them at 6 PM. From approximately September through May we also offer midweek Bible studies
Serving in Worship.There are various opportunities to serve our Lord during worship. Please call the church and speak with our secretary Jessie if you are interested in any of the following: altar guild,greeter,reader of the Old Testament and Epistle during the service,usher, or worship assistant. Besides being in charge of scheduling, Jessie can also point you to those who can help train you.
Music. St. Matthew also takes pride in its music. Our organist Sarah Dukeman has a degree in Music Education and has also been classically trained on playing the organ. Our choir usually sings at Christmastime and Easter at least and always wants new voices. We also have a bell choir for those interested. Sarah is also eager to work with anyone interested in singing a solo, leading the congregation in a new hymn, or playing an instrument to help accompany our worship. We are also open to any other ideas or other contributions you might be able to make to help us glorify God through our music.
Youth. From September through May we offer Sunday School for children at 9:30 AM using the "Growing in Christ" curriculum from Concordia Publishing House. Special opportunities are also offered in the summer months, such as training the kids on altar guild. Our organist Sarah also leads a children's choir at certain times of the year. Our young families often get together for fellowship together, whether it be at our monthly fellowship events or more informally at each others’ houses. We also have a one-day VBS in the summer and sometimes one additional children's party sometime in the year. For more information about our youth opportunities or if you have ideas to further our youth programs please speak with our current Education chair or Youth chair (our secretary Jessie can provide the names and numbers).
Other Opportunities. There are numerous other opportunities and ways to help at St. Matthew. If you would like to be a part of our church leadership we encourage you to do so! There are various committee chairs on our church council or if you can also help an existing committee by serving on it. An example of such a committees is the Evangelism Committee, which is an important committee for new members as it seeks ways to share the gospel with others through fellowship opportunities, service events, training in witnessing, etc. When a month has five Sundays, on the fifth Sunday there is a potluck following the church service; we also have various other special fellowship opportunities throughout the year like pizza parties, football parties, bowling, etc. On the fourth Sunday of months with five Sundays, we assemble sack lunches for the needy at Feed My Sheepat the beginning of the Sunday School hour (9:30 AM). Another committee you might have interest in is the Property Committee, which can always use help to maintain our physical property (there are also usually work days both in the Spring and Fall). Or women might be interested in our Lutheran Women's Mission League (LWML), which usually meets the first Tuesday of each month. The church also has a quilting group that meets each Saturday at church around noon. We also have a fairly substantial church rummage sale once per year. We also have a group of members who provide meals for those in need, such as in times of bereavement, illness, or need. You also might want to serve on our prayer chain. There are many ways for you to be served by St. Matthew and help serve. Finally, we welcome and encourage you to think of new opportunities for our church that you might have special gifts for.
General information. This packet has much information about the church, but there is much more. Please check out our website ( for various links, resources, and much more information. Check out our facebook page as well. Included in this packet is also a church directory with the addresses, phone numbers, and emails of the members of St. Matthew; also note at the beginning of the directory that the various committee chairs are listed. A copy of St. Matthew'sconstitution and policy manual are also available upon request with our secretary Jessie (228.864.6264). Pastor and Jessie have office hours of at least Monday through Thursday, 9 AM until 1 PM. Please also feel free to contact Pastor Dukeman at any time to talk, ask questions, schedule a meeting, etc. Finally, more information is provided in the announcements at the end of each week's church service bulletin; we also have a monthly newsletter that can be emailed to you upon request or picked up in hardcopy form in a pile at the rear of the church.
Exploring the Christian Faith with the Gospel of Matthew
By Pastor Jeff Dukeman, Ph.D.,
St. Matthew Lutheran Church,
1301 31st Ave, Gulfport, MS 39501
Have you ever wanted to learn more about who Jesus is? This document is meant to help. It will look at who Jesus is using the Gospel of Matthew and will be divided into three parts.
You are probably familiar with Christmas trees. What is it that you find under the Christmas tree? Gifts. These gifts remind us that Jesus is a gift to the world. The first third or so of Matthew’s Gospel may be termed ‘An Extended Christmas’ because it focuses on God’s love in sending us Jesus. Jesus’ infancy (Matthew 1–2) teach us that Jesus will be Immanuel, a name which means God with us. We will see God the Father’s love when we look at the baby Jesus. Eventually Jesus would grow up and became a pastor. His ministry began when he was baptized by John the Baptist as the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3). The Father loved Jesus because by being baptized next to sinful people like us Jesus was committing to bearing the penalty for our sin. Because of this at our Baptism God declared his love for us and brought us into his family. In God’s family, the church, he defends us from the devil, whom Jesus defeated at his temptation (Matthew 4). After Jesus began his ministry he preached his first sermon, The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). The content of this sermon can be summarized in its first word, ‘blessed.’ We are blessed because God loves us and has made us a part of his family. After Jesus’ first sermon, he did many powerful miracles (Matthew 8–9). These miracles showed that Jesus wasn’t all talk; he also showed God’s love to people through powerful deeds. God also proves his love to his people in their lives today, not only reminding him of his love through words but also blessing his people through the loving deeds of our fellow Christians, through strengthening us in prayer, and through surrounding us through his holy angels who help us.
It would be kind of silly to think that after a person is born into this world that they wouldn’t do anything. So too in the church, after God created faith in us and made us a part of his family, he also helps us to live as his people with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is emphasized in the middle third or so of Matthew’s Gospel. In Jesus’ second sermon (Matthew 10) he sends his disciples out to share the gospel, or good news, with others. This can be called the beginning of Jesus’ commissioning of his disciples. In Matthew 11 and 12, Jesus continues this commissioning, only now teaching his disciples through his deeds and words on the go rather than through a sermon. After commissioning his disciples, Jesus preaches his third sermon, which describes what their mission is as it describes what service in the kingdom, or church, is like (Matthew 13). Following this, the disciples are the most active of any place in Matthew as they help Jesus do ministry, for example, helping him in the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000 (Matthew 13–17). Finally, after Jesus commissions his disciples and accompanies them on a gospel mission, Jesus takes time to assess that mission. Thus, in Matthew 18 Jesus preaches his fourth sermon where he adjusts his disciples’ understanding of mercy towards others. It’s easy in a world where power and domination are often valued to not understand being merciful to others. In Matthew 19–20 Jesus goes on to in words and deeds illustrate the importance of being merciful towards others in the Christian life. In your own life as a family member, employee, etc., can you think of how you are commissioned for tasks, carry them out, and then evaluate your performance? Jesus teaches that ultimately the Holy Spirit desires to help you in all of these things.
The final third of Matthew contains holy week in Jerusalem. If in the first third of Matthew Jesus in words and deeds taught about God’s love, and if in the middle third he taught about how the Holy Spirit helps God’s children to live godly lives serving others, the final third teaches us chiefly about Jesus’ love in suffering for us because we sin and fall short in our lives. In Matthew 21–22 we see Jesus’ godly character as our priest. Sinful human beings may strive to sacrifice for others, but ultimately we all fall short and need the one who truly loves the world and has the power to save it. Matthew 23–25 contains Jesus’ final sermon where he further instructs his disciples about his love and prepares them for the cross. Thus the first word of this sermon is 'woe,’ which is not really a threat against us but rather the opposite, an anticipation of Jesus bearing the woe of the sin of the world at the cross. Matthew 26–28 is the so-called passion narrative that concludes Matthew. Jesus first has his last supper with his disciples where he institutes the Lord’s Supper as a feast that the church may celebrate whenever it worships so that Jesus’ forgiveness may again and again be shared. Next, Jesus is tried for our sin, and although he is guiltless he submits himself to be found guilty for our sake. Finally, Jesus at the cross suffers a torturous death to pay for our sin, is buried so that we might have confidence that our guilt is buried in God’s sight, and is raised from the dead by God so that we might have the hope of eternal life in heaven with Jesus. I pray that if you struggle with guilt over any bad things you have done in your life that you might look to holy week and see Jesus as your loving savior, see him speak words of tender forgiveness to you, and see him die for all of your sin at the cross so that you might have eternal life in heaven with your divine family: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.